Political Quotes

“I thank the Senator from Utah for his advocacy on behalf of Americans' privacy rights and for his dedicated efforts to end the NSA's illegal program. In June 2013, Americans learned for the first time that section 215 of the USA PATRIOT Act has for years been secretly interpreted to authorize the collection of Americans' phone records on an unprecedented scale. And they learned that the NSA has engaged in repeated, substantial legal violations in its implementation of section 215 and other surveillance authorities. Since that time, Congress and the American public have been engaged in an important debate about the breadth of government surveillance powers and the legal rationale used to authorize the collection of Americans' data. Under my chairmanship last Congress, the Senate Judiciary Committee held six open and public hearings that sharpened the committee's thinking and furthered the public dialogue on these important issues. Senator Lee, Congressman Jim Sensenbrenner, Congressman John Conyers, and I introduced bicameral, bipartisan legislation, the USA FREEDOM Act of 2013, S. 1599/H.R. 3361, on October 29, 2013, to end bulk collection and reform our surveillance laws. The President announced his support for ending the bulk collection of Americans' phone records in March 2014.…”